4 Aftermath of the Test

Part 1 - Aftermath

What had just happened to the test had brought mental breakdown to some of the students and that included Drakios. To their surprise, they were told that half of them didn't make it out alive and fell to the ground. He could remember the exact words Arcus Vetrovius had said when they had just returned from the test:

" 543, that's the number of casualties we had for that single test alone, their souls has been sent to the underworld and Marcus Pollus Nero - the former general of the army is already there to guide them."

The general of the Athartian Army - Marcus Pollus Nero, said to be one of the greatest commanders ever in the history of Athartos. He defeated the barbarian army of the Visileans from the south.

Part 2 - The Invasion

30 years ago, Loiyean Coast, South of Athartos.

"Men! Prepare to face the barbarians! This might be the final battle of your lives or keep fighting and we might just as well survive through this!" shouted Marcus Pollus Nero.

The soldiers had high morale, they had their will to fight - to protect their families. They were planning on winning a decisive victory against the barbarians, to end their invasion once and for all. Surprisingly, that wasn't the result that they had achieved, thousands of bodies pile down the coastline, blood mixed along the waters of the shore. Vultures were already feeding on the bodies of the dead and Marcus Pollus Nero was there, mixed with the bodies of the dead.

Even with the numbers of stabs on his body and mutilated limbs, he stood but wasn't who he used to be. His eyes were fiery red, and rage was all over his heart, he stood out from the crowd, like a demon from the underworld.

The barbarians were slowly marching towards the nearest village and what was there was a small group of legionnaires to protect the village. It was clear that they couldn't defend it against the large horde of barbarians. The gates were quickly closed after the scout caught sight of the army from the distance about ten thousand or so, against the defenders who were only a thousand strong. They were well-disciplined but their numbers just couldn't stand up against the overwhelming numbers of the Visileans.

With their numbers, they started to siege the village, climbing over ladders up to the wall and killing the guards that defended it, without much time consumed, they were in control of all the village. They started to settle in, and many of the inhabitants were either captured or killed.

"Sire, that's all of them!" reported a guard.

"Good! Now we feast!" said the barbarian commander.

The barbarians started to cheer and feast, drinking wine made by the village people, ate meat from cattle that were grown by the people of the village. Basically, they were nothing more than raiders taking over resources that they didn't even work for. They were cheering from the victory they had just garnered, they've lost a few men but it was worth it.

Meanwhile, outside the village hall that they were feasting in was a huge pile of bodies scattered all over the village, it looked like no one was going to bury them soon.

The cheers inside the village were suddenly caused to halt right after a loud banging came on the door.

"Who dares bother our celebration?" asked the barbarian commander.

Then a barbarian grunt went towards the door to check who was on the other side, only to see an Athartian soldier. Upon quickly opening the door, the barbarians rushed to him and stabbed him from different sides. The soldier didn't have any reaction on his face, just a poker face. It was then that he started stabbing them instead with his gladius and then they were dead. When the barbarians started to fall, they started to rise again but started to stab their own mates instead.

"What in the world is happening here?" asked the Barbarian commander, starting to back out towards the door located on the other side of the village hall, only to be greeted by a giant growling three-headed dog and an army of the undead.

"Zíto i aftokratoría (Long live the empire)," the athartian commander - Nero, said. For years until his death, he had served as the vassal of Hades, the god of the underworld. Now that he's dead, he has taken over Hades' role.

Part 3 - Brief Duel

"Here's the agreement booger! You sleep on the top of the deck bed while I sleep on the under, am I making things clear?" asked the girl.

"Yes ma'am, oh and by the way, we've known each other for quite some time now, so its better if you tell me your name and maybe afterwards, your habits, personality and other things," said Drakios.

"I don't know if you're asking for my name or for a job interview, either way, my name is..."

"Magos?"

"Shut up! Stop calling me Magos cause my name is Maria!"

"Oohhh, nice to meet you Magos - I mean, Maria!"

"Fire..." said Maria, about to chant a spell as a magic circle began to form from the palm of her hands aimed towards Drakios.

Drakios meanwhile, was freaking out but remained calm, confident that Maria wouldn't use a fire spell on him in such a place.

"Impossible, there's no way she'd ever...," Prometheus started.

With all the confidence stacked over Drakios' head under Prometheus control, he stood there with a smirk on his face, Prometheus had it under control - or did he?

"... Blast!" continued Maria, scorching Drakios until every part of his body was as dark as charcoal.

"What the f*ck...," said Prometheus.

The next day there both went to their respective classrooms, classes were about to start soon. Just by looking, it was quite obvious that only Drakios' had everything prepared: notebooks, pens, and other needed requirements for the school, though he wasn't the one who prepared everything for the school days but the forethinker inside of his body.

"Woah! That's amazing! He has everything already!"

"The teacher hasn't even announced what to bring and look at him, all prepared with the necessities."

There were a lot of murmurs all throughout the classroom about how prepared Drakios was despite not being informed about anything. Most of the students around the classroom were forming a circle around Drakios in disbelief.

There wasn't a lot of students in that classroom - numbering, as well as in the other classrooms. In the two classrooms for the vassals, there was only half of the remaining amount after most of them had perished in the test that happened before they were even given access inside their classroom. Some of them were still broken down, not being able to move on from what had transpired in their first days inside the institution.

One of the students in the classroom, a man with red hair was the odd one out from the rest, he seemed to be calmed, not caring about the loss of students that had just happened, fearing not of the other tests that he may face in the following days.

"Alexander, you seemed unaffected, are you that emotionless?" asked someone, probably an acquaintance of his, or just one of his classmates. The red-haired young man turned his head toward the person asking a question.

"Why would I? I've seen what happens to people who die, they get to be sent to the underworld and become subjects of Hades, that's just what happens to everyone who dies. To be honest, don't we all die in the end?" replied Alexander, thinking rationally based on the experiences that he had made with his father in the past.

Alexander Joseph Nero, simply known as the vassal of the God of the Underworld - Hades. Seeing people die wasn't new for him, he had spent enough amount of time in the underworld to get used and understanding what happens after death and how life in the afterlife is. For him, there was no reason to fear death itself, you die, then you live in the afterlife, being subject of Hades - it was as simple as that. He was the son of Marcus Pollus Nero - the former vassal of Hades.

Later that morning, Drakios moved from the classroom towards the cafeteria to get their daily dose of food. He met with Maria there and sat in the ate at the same table as her while holding a conversation at the same time:

"So how was your first day?" asked Maria, holding the meat with the fork while cutting it with a knife that she was holding on her right hand. She consumed her food, munching it inside her mouth, then looking back at Drakios, waiting for his answer.

"Weird, if I say so," replied Drakios, not even taking a single glimpse towards her - focused on eating his meal on the plate.

"How weird?"

"Falling from the sky then surviving because I held your hand kind of weird," said Drakios. "What's more is that these two weird events that had recently happened to me were done by none other than Prometheus himself, always surprising me with his forethought. To be honest, most of the times when I sleep, he would take control of my body and do some stuff which I wouldn't even know about."

"Oh it's that weird," replied Maria, who just finished eating the piece of meat that he was just munching a while ago.

While still currently busy eating their meal, their attention was suddenly taken by a sudden event from the distance, the main door connecting the cafeteria to the hallway slammed open and out from it came twelve individuals walking side-by-side.

"It's them," said a voice from over the distance, near enough for Drakios and Maria to hear, taking their attention. They looked towards the twelve people standing on that main door, there was a big difference between the way Drakios and the others looked, and the twelve individuals; looking like they were totally from a different league - and they were. The group of people standing in front of them was the Student Council of Exaimistís and were chosen based on one thing alone, they were the vassals of the Olympian Gods: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus.

In the middle of this event, a familiar person stood up and confronted the members of the student council. A person with hair red as a red giant, he stood in front of them with hate on his face. The surroundings began to turn into darkness and everyone in the cafeteria noticed them, slowly surrounding the Olympians.

"My, you dare stand in front of us?" said the person in the middle of them all, the one with the most prestige, with most power out of all the members of the student council. His hair was as white as the pearl of the shells and the clouds of the skies. His voice was deep, sounding like a titan over all the people.

"Alex, you still haven't learned have you? Your darkness doesn't work against the light which I bring," said one of the other members, standing while holding a miniature sun on the point of his finger, as easily as the dark crawled in, the brightness quickly swallowed the darkness and dispersed like it never existed.

The members of the student council or the Olympians were considered as the most powerful in all of Exaimistís, being the vassals of the strongest gods and goddesses in all of the Greek Pantheon. They stood there like the brightest stars in the night sky, they were the ones being focused at, all eyes were on them. They were the epitome of power in that academy and the pride of Exaimistís.

"Those Olympians, still as prideful as ever," said Prometheus. "You just can't tell if you can trust them or not, they were the kind who cannot be read but that doesn't mean I can't. There's always a way to stop thing you see, and even those Olympians can be stopped."

"For once, you've said something great, Prometheus," replied Drakios, appearing to be talking to himself. This wasn't that weird for vassals at all, most of the times they would be talking with the gods inside them cause even gods needed socialization themselves.

"What's your name?" said someone, Drakios was made to turn his head and look towards the man who was standing in front of him, bending his body to move his face nearer towards him.

"Drakios, My name is Drakios."

"Well, it is nice meeting you, now it would seem that we are out of chairs to sit on and if it's fine with you, could we share this sit with you?" asked the white-haired person.

"Not a problem," replied Drakios.

"Splendid! Now as a gift, I shall introduce my name to you, my name is Joules Caesar - Prince of the Athartian Empire and Vassal of Zeus, nice to meet you Drakios."

Joules Caesar looked at him with a large smile on his face, as cheerful and happy as he might look, even without the help of Prometheus, Drakios knew that the student council president was more than he looked.